Unboxing of the Early 2009 NVIDIA iMac, Early Benchmarks

[gmanrique]

Has this been confirmed yet?

It seems the new GT120 and GT130 included in the iMacs are not the mobile versions but under-clocked desktop ones. Still, no real confirmation yet.

No. You have an nvidea chipset as well, as the 8800GS is an nvidea card. That 8800 will beat all of the nvidea cards available in the new imac lineup.

Ironically, the only card in the new imac lineup that would outperform what you have is the one non-nvidea card: the ATI 4850.

 

[Pressure]

no full keyboard for the desktop line? Are they nuts?

Boo! on the keyboard without a numpad. I hate typing numbers across the top. Ugh!

Very disappointed by lack of numeric keypad. I'm not going to spend another 100 bucks for the alu full size kb (that's the price in here).

This is so bad, the entire new product line.. so sad

In the context of less computer value, which a lot of people post as their feeling about the iMac updates, I'm not happy with the keyboard. Regardless of people's use, it seems like a cheap move.

I don't know other peoples habits, but I use the keypad often.

Wirelessly posted (iPhone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5H11 Safari/525.20)

I don't like that it comes with a keyboard without a key pad. I guess that you could always purchase one with a key pad later though.

You can configure it with the normal keyboard WITH keypad.

Thanks (I just realized I could look that up on apple's imac page ). Lose the only FW 400 and gain a 4th USB? That's not a good trade, IMO.

Well, they've removed Firewire. Does that count as progress?

You can daisy chain FireWire products, so it is not really a problem.

You can even get FireWire 400 to FireWire 800 cables. This is really a non-issue.

 

[beaner454]

You know the base mac mini and the 24" LED for $1500 doesn't seem quite as bad any more. Especially if you have a laptop already that you could use this display for. Your getting a much better screen than the iMac's, and you don't have to keep paying for a new display with every upgrade.

Although the resale % will probably be pretty sad in comparison to the iMac's. But it's definitely some food for thought.

 

[irun5k]

Seriously. For a laptop removing the number pad makes sense, but on your flagship desktop model this is a really bad move Apple. There are many professional uses of the Mac that you need the expedience of using a number pad for (talk to any bookkeeper for example).

+1. This was just plain STUPID. This isn't the same as removing the floppy drive. Floppies had a replacement: USB sticks, writable CDs, network storage, etc.

There is no replacement for the number pad. It is just a poor and arbitrary decision to get rid of it. It would be like removing elevators from the Empire State Building. Apple would try to sell us on the fact that it still has stairs!

***EDIT***
Just read previous post- you can configure this however you want. So seems this is a non-issue, and potentially a positive, since now you can get either style keyboard you want, right?

 

[h.21]

The article is wrong. A USB port was also added, bringing the total to 4 on the iMac.

 

[QCassidy352]

Personally, I'm interested in seeing how the 9400M performs against the HD2600Pro. I'm willing to bet there are cases where the dedicated nature of the HD2600Pro keeps it ahead, so the 9400M may well be a downgrade for the low-end 24" iMac.

The 2600 in the previous (2) generation(s) of imac will roundly beat the 9400M. The 9400M is more on par with the 2400xt used in the previous low-end imac (see below), and the 2600 out-performs the 2400xt by a good bit.

Oh... and it now costs a whopping £449 more than the old version for practically the same machine spec.

Yeah because the pound used to be worth $1.90 and now it's worth $1.40. Apple just doesn't adjust prices in the middle of a product cycle.

If you actually do the math (in one thread someone did) UK buyers are still paying slightly less for imacs than US buyers (exclusive of the VAT, which Apple can't do anything about).

What about the current and previous 20" version iMac?
Is its new NVIDIA GEforce 9400M an improvement over the previously used ATI Radeon HD 2400XT?

Macworld compared the imac 2.4 with radeon 2400xt to the macbook 2.4 with 9400m in a series of games and it was pretty close. I think the macbook won 4 out of 7 and the imac won the other 3, but there were no blowouts.

 

[madog]

Personally, I'm interested in seeing how the 9400M performs against the HD2600Pro. I'm willing to bet there are cases where the dedicated nature of the HD2600Pro keeps it ahead, so the 9400M may well be a downgrade for the low-end 24" iMac.

That's what worries me, not as a potential purchaser of an iMac, but as one who sells them. How will the 24" run vs. the 20" with the same integrated card in tests? Does the fact that it needs to push out the higher resolution automatically decrease it's overall performance? What happens then when you add another display?

 

[fleshman03]

99.9999% sure that it performs like the Aluminium 2.0 Ghz Macbook.

It will. And the low ends are an Aluminum MB with a bigger screen + more HD + faster processor.


I'm pretty pissed that nothing great came out of yesterday, but I'm surprised that so many people still feel that way.

 

[neonuke]

Is the keyboard with keypad option free or extra?

 

[Eidorian]

It will. And the low ends are an Aluminum MB with a bigger screen + more HD + faster processor.


I'm pretty pissed that nothing great came out of yesterday, but I'm surprised that so many people still feel that way.

Don't forget the Mac mini has sexy, sexy FireWire 800 as well.

 

[badNameErr]

Is the keyboard with keypad option free or extra?

free.

 

[slicecom]

Is the keyboard with keypad option free or extra?

It's a free option but people are still whining. Personally I'd rather have the more compact version as I have no use for a numberpad.

 

[laffingbilly]

makes me want another one

 

[Hyde244]

I don't see why anyone would prefer to get the compact keyboard over the traditional numeric pad.

Granted, the compact keyboard works perfectly fine (I have a Macbook that I love after all), but I still do not want to sacrifice keyboard functionality for looks.

 

[Stridder44]

Worst update ever.

Corporate greed has very obviously taken over the company. Obvious reason why "Think Different" is no longer their slogan.

 

[kingtj]

Yeah, not liking this either, really ....

But to be honest, I'm in the group Apple seems to think is the majority.... I don't ever really use my numeric keypad. Never did learn how to enter numbers quickly on one.

Just because I don't use it doesn't mean I want to see it go away, though. I realize other people are going to occasionally be using my computer too, and the lack of the keypad might drive somebody else crazy.

It's fine to offer choices, but I agree that the keyboard without the keypad should be the optional one. Small keyboards like that are probably beneficial to some people who want to save space, but they also make the computer look less powerful and cheap. That's not the image you want to portray with a new Mac system.....

+1. This was just plain STUPID. This isn't the same as removing the floppy drive. Floppies had a replacement: USB sticks, writable CDs, network storage, etc.

There is no replacement for the number pad. It is just a poor and arbitrary decision to get rid of it. It would be like removing elevators from the Empire State Building. Apple would try to sell us on the fact that it still has stairs!

***EDIT***
Just read previous post- you can configure this however you want. So seems this is a non-issue, and potentially a positive, since now you can get either style keyboard you want, right?

 

[ChrisA]

Very disappointed by lack of numeric keypad. ...

When you place the order you get to select the keyboard. You can specify either with or without the numeric pad for the same price

 

[Shanpdx]

When you place the order you get to select the keyboard. You can specify either with or without the numeric pad for the same price

as mentionted by other forum posters; what happens with other retialers like amazon and others?

Keyboard with Num pad should be default and Compact Keyboard should be optional one. (but right NOW it is other way around)

 

[the vj]

Sorry to say this guys...

But Apple is becoming ****.

They want to sell you a computer without the numeric keypad to offer it to you as an option at their store.

The catch of this is that their store does not have the discounts a reseller can give you, so they are bringing you to their online store.

And that is for the US only (or the countries lucky enough of having an Apple web site), the rest of the world would have to buy the extra keyboard with the numeric keypad.

That is like selling a software with enough bugs so people will have to buy the upgrades.

Apple is not playing fair, there is a catch in every hardware now.

The lack of composit video in the mac books is terrible because that is what I use in my shows and there are not afforable video mixers that can handle 4 stream of video in VGA or DVI.

At least the Mac Mini has a barely decent video card, but for the rest... thumbs down.

 

[milo]

So will there be any way to get it with full keyboard from a store?

Or will people have to special order just for the keyboard?

 

[kurosov]

When you place the order you get to select the keyboard. You can specify either with or without the numeric pad for the same price

Well i will be buying direct at an apple store. does anybody know if they offer a choice there or will i have to make do with the bundled mini keyboard?

 

[gwangung]

I totally agree with you, I think it sucks. If I were in the market for a new Imac right now I would be looking at the refurb store. Loosing that firewire port hurts for video production.

Really? How?

 

[BenRoethig]

http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/First-Look/iMac-20-Inch/658/1

and teardown photos here

I should keep this handy for upgrading the hard drive in my Rev. A POS. I miss the days of take back off, upgrade, put back on. Now its take front off with suction cups, unscrew half a million screws, upgrade, replace said half a million screws praying you remembered what goes where, and replace glass.

no full keyboard for the desktop line? Are they nuts?

These days, they do seem to be playing with less than the full deck.

You can order a keyboard with the numpad.

Direct BTO order only. Not applicable to retail bought iMacs.

 

[gmanrique]

what are you talking about? (The Mac mini part)

The mini just got updated to have the same integrated video option as the MacBooks.

About the keyboard, agreed. The one with numeric pad should be the default one, not the other way around.

But Apple is becoming ****.

They want to sell you a computer without the numeric keypad to offer it to you as an option at their store.

The catch of this is that their store does not have the discounts a reseller can give you, so they are bringing you to their online store.

And that is for the US only (or the countries lucky enough of having an Apple web site), the rest of the world would have to buy the extra keyboard with the numeric keypad.

That is like selling a software with enough bugs so people will have to buy the upgrades.

Apple is not playing fair, there is a catch in every hardware now.

The lack of composit video in the mac books is terrible because that is what I use in my shows and there are not afforable video mixers that can handle 4 stream of video in VGA or DVI.

At least the Mac Mini has a barely decent video card, but for the rest... thumbs down.

 

[KnightWRX]

Direct BTO order only. Not applicable to retail bought iMacs.

Source ? Because in the other threads, retailers are saying that they will carry both options, free of charge.